Ryan Reaves’ return sparks physical game between Knights, Wild

The boards at T-Mobile Arena shook, rattled and bent Sunday in the building’s first playoff game since 2019.

There’s no doubt a physical tone was being sent from the outset of the Golden Knights-Minnesota Wild first-round playoff series.

Every battle in the corner, every dump-in at the blue line and every trip to the front of the net were contested as the teams showed what kind of series to expect. The Knights sent a message before the first shift even began by starting their fourth line of left wing William Carrier, center Keegan Kolesar and right wing Ryan Reaves, who played his first game since April 11 because of an undisclosed injury.

“This is a man’s series,” coach Pete DeBoer said after the Knights’ 1-0 overtime loss. “It’s going to be some tough, heavy hockey.”

The physicality was obvious from the outset. The Wild had 71 hits, a team playoff record. The Knights had 57, their third most in a playoff game.

Carrier, Kolesar and Reaves thrived in that environment. Reaves had 10 hits, Carrier nine and Kolesar six. They forechecked hard and aggressively. It was one of the team’s best lines before DeBoer juggled some things in the second period.

His faith in the group was obvious because all three received more ice time than their season average. DeBoer also trusted the line to play against Minnesota’s top unit of left wing Jordan Greenway, center Joel Eriksson Ek and right wing Marcus Foligno.

The three are more of a grinding, defensive line than one based on skill, so Carrier, Kolesar and Reaves matched up well against them. Carrier and Reaves spent a majority of their ice time against that group.

“I thought they were great,” DeBoer said of the fourth line. “Really took a piece out of the other team physically.”

That’s a matchup to watch if the series stays intense and chippy.

“Yeah, it was a physical game,” said Greenway, who had a team playoff record 11 hits. “It was a battle out there, for sure. That was a big focus for the entire squad. It’s a long series, and we want to wear them down as much as we can.”

Line changes

DeBoer changed three of his four forward lines in the second period.

Tomas Nosek, playing for the first time since April 24, started at first-line left wing but was moved to fourth-line center. Alex Tuch took Nosek’s spot on the top line, and Kolesar grabbed Tuch’s at third-line right wing.

But the changes weren’t enough to spark the Knights to a goal.

”In (Nosek’s) defense, he hasn’t played in a month and hasn’t skated a lot,” DeBoer said. “He gave us a good period and some energy. As we got into the second period, that line needed a little more juice, so we put (Tuch) in there.”

Contact Ben Gotz at bgotz@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BenSGotz on Twitter.